Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Love the Dohner Family:

Robert, Jessica, Brie and Briar

Consider this your Christmas Card, because I'm not sending them out this year. I've promised myself a stress-free Christmas therefore, hunting for outfits, taking a photo, designing a card, ordering a card and mailing a card all in the next five days would totally break my vow. Instead I'm going green and sending everyone their warm wishes for the season digitally, Merry Christmas all!

Let's Jam

Yesterday I snagged the last Barbie Guitar at Target, successfully hid it in the stroller, managed to advert Brie's attention while it passed down the conveyor belt only to have the cashier ask Brie "Is this for you?" as she placed the present in a bag. Brie then proceeded to claw her way out of the stroller, screaming "I WANT THAT, I WANT THAT, I WANT THAT..."! Smooth move Ruth, smooth!

After giving Ruth a quick evil eye, I explained to Brie she wasn't getting a toy today and she quietly sat back down. Thankfully all those lesson on teaching Brie one doesn't always get something at the store paid off because, quickly my girls were giggling again and I was able to leave the store with a hidden Barbie "Jam With Me" Rock Star Guitar. Another guitar disaster nearly missed.

So by now you've guessed it, I gave in and bought Brie the exact guitar she wanted. I don't know what I was thinking, well actually I do. I let our aggressive saving tactic turn me into a cheap mommy--momentarily! Thankfully for Brie and Briar I was able to snap out of it in order to purchase them a few generous gift for Christmas.

Now I ask, what should I do with the other "Barbie" guitar? Especially since Ross probably does not return defaced merchandise.

Mother's Guilt

For Christmas this year Brie has asked for three things: a Barbie bike, a Barbie Three Musketeer carriage and a Barbie Jam With Me Guitar. The Grandma's have successfully covered two of the three gifts, which leaves me with getting Brie the guitar. And this is where my guilt begins...

Robert wasn't excited about the $30 price tag the Barbie guitar came with, so he convinced me to buy a purple knock off guitar at Ross, remove the sticker's with Goo-Gone and then decorate it with our own Barbie stickers. An extreme project that saved him $23. However, I don't think Brie is going to buy it.

Every time we walk down the toy aisle Brie points out the BJWM Guitar and says, "maybe for Christmas I get this". Every time she browses the Target catalog she points out the BJWM Guitar. And when introduced to the knock off guitar at Ross, she said, "no, no, no, I like Barbie guitar." I'm really starting to feel she's going to be very disappointed come Christmas morning.

So when the Target sales ad came advertising the BJWM Guitar for $23 and knowing I have an additional $5 off coupon I began debating whether I should cut my losses and get Brie the toy her heart desires or teach my child one doesn't always get exactly what they want.

What would you do?

p.s. Let me add Robert prefers the later, but said I can do what I wish with the Christmas money.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

It's hard to believe the advent season is already here, but it is, and the Dohner house is ready!

The stocking's are hung by the chimney with care.

Our mighty pine is wrapped in the girl's Cheerio garland.

And the Nativity scene only has one broken character, so far.

I even have received a Christmas card, The Jackman's are always the first.

After I pick up two more gift we'll be ready; ready to start the baking, caroling and season's greetings. And let me tell you the girl's are excited. Brie mainly to see if her Grandma's came through with a Barbie bike and a Barbie Three Musketeer "Cabbage" (a.k.a carriage) and Briar's ready for the cookies, the Gluten-Filled cookies, since we recently learned that she doesn't have a gluten allergy, but a rice allergy.

How about you, how are you preparing for the Christmas season?

The Melting Pot

The last couple weeks have been rough in the preschool-homeschool area; I've lacked motivation. However, this morning I woke up and dredged out enough energy to work on Brie's colors. And since I'm addicted to surfing "party blogs", I was inspired to try out The Party Dress's idea of melting crayons.

The project was quite simple, it began with peeling the paper from several used crayons. This gave us the perfect outlet to talk about colors;who made them, where they are used and of course what their names are.

Once the crayons were peeled and broken, we sorted them into four groups: yellow, blue, green and red.

Brie then placed the crayon pieces into a mini-muffin pan, where ever she pleased.

All 24 tins were colorfully filled,

and Brie proudly display her hard work.

We then backed them in the oven on 225* for 15 minutes, melting the crayons completely.

After the pan cooled, we were left with these colorful jewels.

I think they turned out really, really cute.

Best of all, the girls had a blast using their new crayons before dinner tonight!

Brie

Briar

It's projects like this that make me glad I'm the mother of toddlers!

Driving Like It's Hot

I'm not much of a rule breaker, I'm too uptight to be a rule breaker. Which is why one would be surprised to know I'm driving hot. Last Saturday I realized my license was missing. Many have said, "How did you lose your license", as if it's almost impossible, but it's far more likely for me. Let me explain...

Robert and I are cheap, so cheap that we still only own one car. It's not that we couldn't afford two cars, it's just that we don't need two cars. So every morning we get up as a family, load into the car, and drive daddy to work. Ten minutes later we're on the USAA campus for our ID check. You see USAA is a military company, with military like rules, one of which is an ID check for authorized personnel. That means just about every morning and every afternoon I pull my driver's license out and then throw it somewhere in the car. Sometimes it's the dash board, sometimes it's my pocket, other times it's my purse; an unorganized practice which has never failed me until now. Which is why I'm blaming it on this little Houdini.

Or maybe this one...


Now the other question which remains is why haven't I got a replacement? Mainly because a replacement take the effort of locating five official documents, driving across town, waiting in line for three hours in a small room, with possible sickies, while trying to tame ones rabid children from boredom, that's why! Maybe I'll muster the energy to venture out tomorrow, or maybe I'll continue to drive hot.

Brair's Sweet Shoppe

Briar' Sweet Shoppe 1st Birthday was a grand success!

On Saturday we held Briar's first birthday at our house, a month late, but oh well! The candy bar was the central theme to the entire party and I was very pleased at how it turned out. We also asked the guest to come in their Halloween costumes, it just seemed fitting. There were a wide range of costumed kiddos from Princesses and Fairies to Super Hero's and Crossing Guards they were all too cute. And since it was Halloween we had the kids decorate pumpkins with Mr. Potato Head like pieces, the creativity the little ones showed was amazing. Just about as amazing as their restraint at the candy bar, we had way too much left over candy! When the party was all said and done I sent the kids home with bubble wands shaped like lollipops. Oh what a day, if only my kids could have more birthday's without actually growing up!

Here are a few of my favorite photos.

align="center"> Briar was very pleased with her balloons (she never let go)!

Wasn't her costume cute? I'm already wondering what type of fairy the girls will be best year! Lady Bug or Bumble Bee maybe?

The day was made complete with a perfect evening for Trick-or-Treating!

Check out the slide show for a full report of the party!